Chapter 95: GUILTY SUSPICION
KEISHA’S POV
The first thing that woke me was Nadia’s foot.
It landed against my thigh with enough force to drag me out of sleep and enough familiarity that I didn’t immediately panic. For a few seconds, I simply lay there staring at the ceiling, trying to remember what day it was and whether I actually needed to be awake. The room was dark except for the moonlight filtering through the curtains, painting pale silver streaks across the walls.
My body felt heavy. Lately, that seemed to be my permanent state.
Now what?
"Keisha."
I closed my eyes again.
If I ignored her, there was a chance she would leave me alone.
Unfortunately, Nadia had never been the type of person who left anyone alone.
"Keisha."
A pillow struck my shoulder but I didn’t move.
Oh my god.
The pillow struck me again. "You’re awake. I know."
"I’m not." I muttered.
The mattress dipped as she shifted closer. "You are."
I groaned and rolled onto my back, finally looking at her. Nadia was sitting cross-legged near the foot of my bed, her hair a mess and her expression far too cheerful for someone who had chosen to disturb me in the middle of the night.
"What do you want?"
A grin immediately spread across her face. "We should drink."
I stared at her.
Outside, darkness still loomed against the windows. The entire pack was asleep. Reasonable people were asleep. Even unreasonable people were probably asleep.
"Nadia."
"What?"
"It’s the middle of the night."
"So?"
"So normal people don’t wake their friends up to drink."
"Normal people are boring."
I dropped my face back into the pillow.
Ever since moving into my house, Nadia had somehow managed to turn every ordinary day into an adventure. Sometimes that adventure involved shopping sporadically. Sometimes it involved dragging me into unnecessary arguments. Apparently tonight’s adventure involved alcohol.
"You know what I realized?" she asked.
I already knew I wasn’t going to like whatever came next. "What?"
"We haven’t had a proper girls’ night since I moved in."
I cracked one eye open. "You’ve been living here for a week."
"Exactly. That’s enough time."
"That’s not helping your argument."
"It helps my argument perfectly."
Despite myself, I laughed.
That was the problem with Nadia. Once she decided she wanted something, resisting became more exhausting than simply agreeing.
Which was how twenty minutes later I found myself sitting on the living room floor while Nadia proudly arranged drinks across the coffee table like she’d accomplished a great mission.
The apartment was silent around us. Outside, the pack slept peacefully while we sat beneath the soft glow of the standing lamp in the corner. The television played some random movie neither of us was paying attention to.
Nadia handed me a can. "See? This is nice."
"We could’ve done this tomorrow." I yawned.
"Tomorrow we’ll be busy."
I opened the can and took a small sip. The cold liquid burned down my throat, and for a moment everything felt normal.
Maybe that was why I liked nights like this. The world felt smaller. Work couldn’t reach me here. Problems couldn’t reach me here. Expectations couldn’t reach me here. It was just me and Nadia, talking about nothing until somehow we’d spent hours talking about everything stupid.
The conversation wandered naturally after that and we spoke about random stuff she’d noticed at work.
Everything almost seemed normal.
Almost.
Because then my stomach twisted and the nausea came without warning.
One second I was fine. The next, it felt like something inside me had suddenly decided it hated everything I’d consumed that day.
I immediately lowered the drink as cold sweat prickled across my skin.
Not now.
Please not now.
I swallowed carefully.
Maybe it would pass. Maybe if I ignored it—
Another wave hit stronger this time.
Oh fuck.
"Keisha?"
I looked up and Nadia was watching me. Concern had already replaced amusement on her face.
"I’m fine." I forced the words out.
Her eyes narrowed. "You don’t look fine."
I forced a smile. "It’s nothing."
The concern on her face deepened. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Nadia simply studied me the way she always did when she thought someone was lying.
And unfortunately, Nadia was good at spotting lies. "You’ve been acting strange lately."
My stomach dropped and I immediately looked away.
The reaction was instinctive, but the second I did it, I regretted it because Nadia noticed.
Of course she noticed.
"You have," she continued. "You’ve looked exhausted for weeks."
I said nothing.
"You’re pale all the time."
I still said nothing.
"And you’ve barely been eating."
The guilt hit harder than I expected. Because Nadia wasn’t interrogating me, she was worried. Actually worried. Which somehow made hiding things feel worse.
I wrapped both hands around the can. "It’s probably stress."
Nadia didn’t look convinced. "Stress?"
"Work has been a disaster lately."
That part wasn’t even a lie. Work had been a disaster.
And then there was Eliora.
The thought arrived so conveniently that I grabbed it immediately.
"Eliora isn’t helping." I blurted out.
Nadia frowned. "What does Eliora have to do with anything?"
Everything.
Nothing.
Mostly she was a distraction.
I leaned back against the couch. "I don’t trust her."
Nadia’s eyebrows rose.
There it was. The exact reaction I expected.
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
A look of disbelief crossed her face. "Keisha, she’s been through enough."
I sighed.
That was exactly the problem.
Everyone kept looking at Eliora and seeing someone fragile. Someone struggling. Someone deserving of sympathy. And maybe she was.
But every instinct I had kept telling me something wasn’t right.
"I know she’s had a hard week."
"Then why are you acting like she’s a criminal?"
I hesitated. Because I couldn’t explain it properly. How did you explain a feeling? How did you explain the way someone’s smile lasted a second too long? The way their expressions changed when they thought nobody was watching? The way their qualifications didn’t match their actual abilities?
You couldn’t. Not without sounding paranoid.
"I just don’t trust her."
Nadia stared at me. Then she laughed. "You’re unbelievable."
"I’m serious."
"So am I."
She sat forward. "She’s terrified every day she comes to work."
I remained silent.
"Did you see her face when the supervisor yelled at her?"
I had and I remembered every second of it.
Her tears, the trembling hands and the obvious embarrassment.
But I also remembered the bathroom.
I remembered the expression I’d seen when she’d thought she was alone.
The expression that had disappeared the moment she’d noticed me.
Something about it still bothered me.
"Just be careful around her."
Nadia groaned dramatically. "You’re impossible."
"Maybe."
"No. Definitely." I smiled despite myself.
The conversation moved on after that, but not before Nadia spent the next fifteen minutes accusing me of being suspicious of everyone.
The drinks slowly disappeared.
One can became two. Two became three.
The movie ended without either of us noticing.
Outside, the darkness eventually began softening around the edges.
It was not dawn yet but close.
I was getting tired.
Nadia yawned first. A huge dramatic yawn that immediately made me laugh.
"Go to bed."
She pointed at me. "You first."
"We’re both going."
"Fine."
The living room looked like a disaster by the time we stood.
Empty cans. Half-eaten snacks. Blankets thrown everywhere. A scene that tomorrow’s version of us would definitely regret.
Tonight’s version didn’t care.
A few minutes later, Nadia disappeared into her room.
I waited until her door closed and waited until the apartment became quiet again.
Then I headed toward the bathroom.
The light seemed too bright when I switched it on.
For a moment, I simply stood in front of the mirror. Then slowly, I lifted my shirt.
My gaze dropped immediately.
Please don’t make me throw up in public. I was doing my best to hide you already.
By the time I finally crawled back into bed, sleep came quickly.
The next thing I knew, morning had arrived.
By the time Nadia and I arrived at the office, employees were already filtering inside.
I expected the usual morning routine of people bustling around. Instead, the first thing I noticed was Eliora.
She was already there.
My steps slowed when I saw her and for a moment, I simply watched.
Eliora moved quietly between desks, arranging files into neat stacks and wiping down surfaces. Every workstation looked cleaner than it had the day before. Pens had been organized and documents had been sorted.
The office looked better than it usually did.
I glanced toward the clock.
She had arrived much earlier than everyone else.
I felt something bloom in my chest but it was not suspicion this time.
It was closer to guilt.
By the time the rest of the employees arrived, Eliora was already seated at her desk, focused entirely on the unfinished projects from yesterday.
She didn’t notice anyone watching, didn’t ask for help and didn’t complain.
She simply worked.
And for the next hour, I found myself observing her more than once.
Every time I looked over, she was doing the same thing.
She was working hard.
Maybe I had judged her too quickly.
Maybe all of it really was exactly what it appeared to be.
A woman struggling to adjust. Nothing more.
For the first time since handing that resume to Dane, uncertainty crept into my thoughts.
As I watched Eliora carefully organize another stack of files, I found myself wondering whether I had made a mistake.
Maybe I shouldn’t have asked Dane to look into her after all.